English Punk, Part II

Subway Sect

I was recently poking around on iTunes for some new ideas on English punk.  I’ve obviously been a fan of the “usual suspects” of English punk—Sex Pistols, Clash, Damned, Stranglers—for going on 30 years now, and in a recent post I highlighted some of the less-renowned bands from this era that I’ve discovered over the years, including the Boys, the Donkeys, Eater, and Rich Kids. 

Another extremely early English punk band was Subway Sect—they played with the Pistol, Buzzcocks, Damned and Clash at the 100 Club Punk Festival in September 1976.  Led by frontman Vic Godard, Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren originally helped them get organized, and later the manager of the Clash, Bernie Rhodes, also managed the band.  However, Rhodes apparently was displeased with their original album, and consequently sacked the entire band and shelved the album.  In its second incarnation, Subway Sect moved away from the simple and raw sounds of early English punk and towards a more soulful sound.  Several of their albums are available on iTunes, including a compilation Twenty Odd Years, that contains their initial singles as well as other songs from their unreleased first album.  These songs hint at what might have been; their first single, “Nobody’s Scared”, has rumbling drums that sound like “New Rose” by the Damned and clanging guitar and starts with the line “Everyone is a prostitute, singing a song in prison”—its good, catchy first-wave punk with call-and-answer vocals.  Their second single, “Ambition”, lives up to its name in being much more musically ambitious, starting with a piping organ line that reminds me of “Bang the Drum All Day” by Bad Manners; indeed, there’s a heavy thread of mod/ska revival running through this song.  The vocals and guitars are very reminiscent of the Buzzcocks, and overall this song is much more melodic and points in the mod/ska direction punk was soon to take.  “Parallel Lines” also evokes the Buzzcocks, particularly in Godard’s Pete Shelley-like strangled, high-pitched vocals, and this song has a big, melodic chorus.  I really like all these songs and feel this band could and should have been bigger than they were.

The other band I can’t believe it took me this long to get into are the Adverts.  Like Subway Sect, they formed in 1976 and only lasted a few years but in that time they produced some early punk masterpieces, including the amazing “One Chord Wonders” from 1977.  Again, the touchstone is more the melodic roar of the Buzzcocks (which a touch of the gloomy vibe of the Damned in the verse portion) than the sneer of the Pistols.  “Wonders” starts with a single strummed chord and a shimmering aura of feedback before the shout of “One Chord Wonders!” launches the song into its galloping body.  “Bored Teenagers” is another cranked-up anthem; you can see the future evolution of Oi! from this.  But perhaps their best known song is “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes”, which starts with thudding toms that sounds a little like “Strutter ‘74” by Kiss.  The chanted, descending chorus sounds like 60’s garage rock similar to the Zombies or the Standells. 

The Vibrators were another ’76 band that played the 100 Club Punk Festival.  ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah” is a joyous blast of early punk mania, with shouted lyrics and a very tribal drum sound.  “Keep It Clean” starts a little slower and is perhaps the first straightedge anthem.  Good stuff.  iTunes has their first album Pure Mania as well as several compilations available. 

Penetration are another minor light of the first wave of English punk.  One of the few female-led English punk bands, singer Pauline Murray was often unfairly compared to Poly Styrene of X Ray Spex.  But on songs like “Don’t Dictate”, with its ramping up beginning and rhythm that almost sounds like Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” and Murray’s soaring, defiant vocals, Penetration’s abilities shine through.  The catchy, repetitive chorus of “don’t dictate don’t dictate don’t dictate, dictate to me!” is as memorable as “Oh bondage! Up yours!”.  Later the band pursued a direction that led towards both new wave and heavy metal (guitarist Fred Purser would eventually form the NWOBHM band Tygers of Pan Tang).  Both these threads are visible on “Shout Above the Noise”, which is both more melodic but also contains a twin guitar hard rock anthemic feel similar to the Alarm.  I actually like this song better than their earlier stuff like “Don’t Dictate”—its more mature, more melodic, but still defiant, with an outstanding chorus of “Don’t let them win, don’t let them drag you in, shout above the noise!”

Chelsea, formed by Gene October in 1976, are perhaps best known as the band from which Generation X evolved, starting the career of one Billy Idol.  Their self-titled first album is available on iTunes and contains several of their anthemic songs, including “I’m On Fire” and “Urban Kids”.

Scotland’s the Skids formed in ’77 as one of the first Northern punk bands.  “Into the Valley” has catchy, soaring vocals and a very melodic crunchy guitar sound.  Its very interesting stuff, and a compilation of their best work is available on iTunes.

Desperate Bicycles were another early DIY punk pioneer; none of their work is currently available on iTunes but several of their early singles are posted on YouTube.  “The Medium was Tedium” has a driving Farfisa organ that veers in its simplicity toward the repetition of industrial music.  “Smokescreen” is even simpler and has a crude, amateurish charm.

 The Models featured Marco Pirroni on guitar, who would go on to co-write many hit songs with Adam Ant.  "Freeze", which is on YouTube, is standard Damned-like punk in the vein of "Jet Boy".

The Sods, from Essex, formed after seeing the Pistols in '76, and never really made a splash elsewhere, but "No Pictures of Us" is on YouTube and contains a swirling organ that gives them a garage-y feel.  Similarly, Yorkshire's Jerks recorded a funny as hell '77 punk song "Get Your Woofing Dog Off Me" that samples from "Now I Wanna Be Your Dog" by the Stooges, while Worscestershire's Satan's Rats have a catchy song from '77 as well, "You Make Me Sick".  "British Refugee" by Liverpool's Spitfire Boys has a Kinks-like British Invasion mod primitiveness to it; "Chelsea77" by the Maniacs sounds like Radio Birdman's surf-influenced insanity.

Internationally, the Victims from Perth Australia, recorded "Television Addict" in 1977; it has been covered by the Hellacoptors as well as drummer James Baker and singer/guitarist Dave Faulkner's subsequent 80's band, the Hoodoo Gurus.  Belgiums the Boys recorded several classics in the late 70's, including "I Wanna Get a Job In the City".

Similarly simple but even more melodic and anthemic is the song "Where To Now?" by the Sheffield group 2.3.  This song builds and builds and rightly asks, where are things going to go after the punk revolution stopped?  The answer was of course toward postpunk, which is the subject of my next post.